QUILLBLOG

Knopf disputes “lazy” Chretien review in ad (UPDATED: Newman responds)

In an unusual move, Knopf Canada bought a quarter-page ad in Saturday’s Globe and Mail to dispute Peter C. Newman’s review of Jean Chretien’s recently published memoir, which ran in the Globe on Oct. 20. (The online version of the review has been put behind the Globe‘s pay wall.)

The ad ran as an open letter from Knopf’s executive publisher, Louise Dennys. “Mr. Newman’s review was a lazy piece of work,” the ad states. “He has made no secret in his previous writings of his contempt for Mr. Chretien and in fact here recycles a significant number of lines from his own 2004 memoir.” (That would be Newman’s Here Be Dragons, which, interestingly enough, was published by McClelland & Stewart, which is partly owned by Random House of Canada*.)

No word on what the exact cost to Knopf was, but the standard rate for a full-page ad in the Globe is upwards of around $75,000.

The ad makes a number of claims of deficiency on Newman’s part. While these are necessarily subjective, the complaint that Newman ignored Chretien’s explanations of his role in the Peppergate, Shawinigate, and the sponsorship crisis comes closest to gaining traction. Newman wrote that Chretien gives “no explanations, no apologies” for these scandals. Though apologies are not always forthcoming, Chretien does give lengthy explanations of his role in each, and Newman notes this later on in his review, meaning that his earlier claim of “no explanations” was more of a rhetorical device than an exaggeration of the facts. Newman could certainly have been more careful with his wording, but the ad is equally slippery.

All in all, publishers and authors rarely come off looking good by responding to negative reviews, even when the book’s author is a former prime minister.

However, if you are a major Canadian publisher looking to take out a large ad in Q&Q disputing one of our reviews, please contact our advertising department. You’ll find our “rant rates” very reasonable.

*Even more interesting is the fact that Newman’s 2005 book, The Secret Mulroney Tapes, was published by… Random House Canada.

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UPDATE: In response to a query from Q&Q about his thoughts on the ad – and its possible effect on future Newman-Random relations – Newman sent this e-mail:

I am always proud of publishers who defend their authors, as Cynthia Good when she was Chief Editor at Penguin and defended me against an unfair review. However, I do believe my comments were fair and in fact reflect most of the other reviews of the book that I’ve seen. My last book was with Random House Canada and I would be very happy to work with Anne Collins again.